The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against former sports physician Larry Nassar.
As reported by The Associated Press, the FBI's failures in 2015 and 2016 represented a critical time gap that allowed Nassar, who served Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
When combined with other settlements, $1 billion now has been set aside by various organizations to compensate hundreds of women who said Nassar assaulted them under the guise of treatment for sports injuries, the AP's Ed White reported.
Nassar was arrested by Michigan authorities in 2016. In 2021, the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General issued a report critical of the FBI's response to and investigation of allegations against Nassar, who is currently serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including medal-winning Olympic gymnasts. The DOJ said in its July 2021 report that the FBI made numerous and fundamental errors and violated multiple policies along the way.
That year, USA Gymnastics agreed to pay hundreds of female survivors survivors $380 million to settle their claims.
According to National Public Radio, the latest settlement will likely put an end to years of efforts by some of the gymnasts — including Olympic medalists Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney — to hold federal authorities accountable for not adequately investigating the dozens of allegations.
The Justice Department had previously said it would not charge the FBI agents who initially mishandled the Nassar case, NPR reported.
In a DOJ statement, acting associate attorney general Benjamin Mizer said Nassar betrayed the trust of those in his care for decades, and that the “allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset.”
“While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing,” Mizer said of the agreement, which covers 139 claims.
